Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts welcomes the Renaissance String Quartet as the acclaimed ensemble begins its season as the 2026-2027 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence. On a rapid ascent since its founding five years ago by violinists Randall Goosby and Jeremiah Blacklow, violist Jameel Martin, and cellist Daniel Hass, the Renaissance String Quartet gives the first of three concerts during its residency on Sunday, November 15, 2026 at 3:00pm as part of Caramoor’s Rosen House Concert Series, performing Mozart’s Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K. 546; Price’s String Quartet No. 2 in A minor; and Bartók’s String Quartet No. 1. The Quartet will return on Sunday, May 2, 2027 at 3:00pm for a second concert as part of the Rosen House Concert Series featuring the world premiere of Suite for String Quartet composed by the Quartet’s cellist Daniel Hass, paired with Mozart’s String Quartet No. 22 in B-flat Major, K. 589 and Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major. The group’s third concert will take place during Caramoor’s 2027 Summer Season and will include the world premiere of a new work commissioned for the ensemble by Caramoor.
The Renaissance String Quartet was built on over a decade of friendship formed at The Perlman Music Program and The Juilliard School. Driven by a desire to reimagine the capacity of the string quartet, the ensemble commands a diverse repertoire of classic, underrepresented, and new works to champion an inclusive vision for the future of classical music. As recipients of a 2024 Salon de Virtuosi career grant, the quartet has performed extensively across the globe, featuring recent international debuts at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London and Muziekhaven in Amsterdam alongside dynamic collaborations and educational residencies spanning from Princeton University to Kingston, Jamaica.
The Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence annually supports an exceptional emerging string quartet. The year-long residency includes three performances at Caramoor and two 10-day periods (November 9-18, 2026 and April 26-May 5, 2027) in which the Quartet works with students in local schools. Approximately one thousand students will benefit from engagements in more than 10 schools across Westchester County. The Quartet-in-Residence program extends access to the arts for high school students by providing one-to-one mentoring with professional musicians, giving students insight into pursuing a career in the arts. Caramoor also commissions a new work by a composer of the Quartet’s choosing – the Renaissance String Quartet will premiere the new piece written for the group at Caramoor in summer 2027.
Caramoor also announces the 2026 participants in its Evnin Rising Stars program. Each year, the program’s Artistic Director Marcy Rosen identifies eight of the most promising musicians at the cusp of their careers, bringing them to Caramoor for a weeklong chamber music residency with distinguished artist mentors. This year’s Evnin Rising Stars are Isabelle Ai Durrenberger, violin; Stephen Kim, violin; Julian Rhee, violin; Laura Liu, viola; Emad Zolfaghari, viola; Andrew Byun, cello; Annie Jacobs-Perkins, cello; and Albert Cano Smit, piano. The Evnin Rising Stars will give two Rosen House Concert Series performances on Saturday, October 31, 2026 at 3pm (featuring music by Mozart, Janáček, and Franck) and Sunday, November 1, 2026 at 3pm (featuring music by Beethoven, Bartók, and Brahms). In addition to Rosen, this year’s mentors are violinist Soovin Kim and violist Dmitri Murrath, both alumni of the Evnin Rising Stars program.
Free tickets to performances by the Renaissance String Quartet and the Evnin Rising Stars are available for audience members ages 18 and under.
